1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus for instructing printing using a printer driver, a method for controlling the information processing apparatus, and a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a conventional technique, an application installed on an information processing apparatus transmits a print instruction to a printer driver which, upon reception of the print instruction, converts electronic data, which are print target, into print data. As another conventional technique, a printer driver transmits a print instruction to a port monitor which, upon reception of the print instruction, transmits print data to an image forming apparatus.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional sequence in which an application of an information processing apparatus instructs an image forming apparatus to perform printing. A user creates a document by the application and then instructs printing. In step S101, the application transmits electronic data of the document (hereinafter referred to as document electronic data) and a print instruction to a printer driver. In step S102, the printer driver receives the document electronic data and converts the document electronic data to generate print data. In step S103, the printer driver reads the IP address of the image forming apparatus from a connection destination storage unit of the information processing apparatus. In step S104, the printer driver transmits a print instruction together with the print data and the IP address of the image forming apparatus to a port monitor. In step S105, the port monitor transmits a print instruction to a printing control unit of the image forming apparatus designating the received IP address of the image forming apparatus as a connection destination. In step S106, the printing control unit performs printing and the document is printed.
The printer driver is a very useful program for the user to acquire a print product. A certain technique improves such a printer driver into a more convenient program. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-301127 discusses a common printer driver which is applicable to a plurality of models of image forming apparatuses and executes printing instruction to these image forming apparatuses. The printer driver discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-301127 can use a plurality of image forming apparatuses as a connection destination. The printer driver discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-301127 creates and displays a setting screen based on product information for the image forming apparatuses and user-definable attribute information for the image forming apparatuses.
In recent years, a technique called cloud computing system has come to be used as a configuration for performing various pieces of processing on the server computer side. With the cloud computing system, a user utilizes a web application on the server side by a web browser installed on the client side to create and edit a document. When printing the document, the document electronic data is converted into print data on the server side, so that the user can print the document without installing a printer driver on the client side.
None of conventional printer drivers recognizes a printing service as a connection destination. In other words, a user cannot perform cloud-based printing via a conventional printer driver from an application installed on an information processing apparatus. Another problem is an assumed user demand for cloud-based printing with a similar feeling of operation to that of the conventional printer driver-based printing method.
Still another problem is that, when using a plurality of models of image forming apparatuses, it is necessary to install the same number of printer drivers as the number of image forming apparatuses. However, installing a number of printer drivers may cause competition therebetween possibly resulting in an unstable state of an operating system. For example, temporary data that cannot be normally deleted may disturb normal operation of the operating system.